Staff presents at Western Michigan University Medical Humanities Workgroup Conference

Western Michigan University Community Living Services supervisor, Justin Gish, recently presented his research at the Medical Humanities Workgroup Conference at WMU.

His presentation, titled "Using Stoic Philosophy to Ease Caregivers’ Burdens" examined Stoic thought and present Stoic mental exercises that might help to alleviate compassion fatigue and other common pitfalls of the those involved in the caregiving enterprise. The goal of the presentation was to present the primary source material as resources for individuals to improve their perceptions of their role as caregivers.

The Stoics created brilliant mental exercises such as negative visualization and Epictetus’ dichotomy of control, techniques that caregivers might find useful as they navigate their stressful positions.

Gish earned his master's degree in science education from Western Michigan University in August.